Japan budgets over $15 million for overseas universities in soft power push

March 13, 2015 2:17 AM

7
0

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's government has budgeted over $15 million to fund Japan studies at nine overseas universities, including Georgetown and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, as part of a "soft power" push to counter the growing influence of China and South Korea.

The program, the first time in over 40 years Japan has funded such studies at U.S. universities, coincides with efforts by conservative Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's administration to correct perceived biases in accounts of the wartime past - moves critics say are an attempt to whitewash history.